The Let's Play Archive

Part 1: - Cemetery of Ash & 02 - Firelink Shrine

Iudex Gundyr is latin and translates to Ashen Judge. He is the boss of the tutorial area and boy is he a boss. While the tutorial boss of Dark Souls was designed to be defeated by most people on their first try, and the expected first boss of Dark Souls II was fairly simple too this is quite a step up. If you have experience with Souls games he isn't anything you can't handle but let's just put on the shoes of someone who's never played a Souls game before. This can take a newcomer quite a few tries.

In phase one he's pretty straight forward. A big armored dude with a big weapon swinging said weapon. Y'know, just how a lot of Dark Souls II bosses were. Gundyr also has a little but of a shoulder ram that comes out relatively quickly. Once he reaches 50% of his health, though, Phase two begins.

Blackness erupts from a spot in his neck and a giant black... thing... just kind of sticks out of him, attacking you. If you're locked on it can easily block your entire view if you're too close. I personally never had to dodge many of its attacks, though, because what I tried when I first fought him seemed to be a good strategy: Just stand behind him. The only two things he can do are turn, in which case you strafe accordingly, or jump up, trying to crush you upon landing. If he does that just move away and then carry on as usual.

Depending on your starting class he can be harder or easier, though, he's probably the most diffucult with the Thief. Unless you're good at parrying of course. But even if you don't you can get through phase one with your dagger and bow. For phase two you can use the firebombs you found to take care of him. So it's not like the game doesn't give you any options. I haven't measured time or anything, but if you use the Warrior as a starting class you can probably kill Gundyr the quickest, as the weapon's special skill buffs its damage output and the weapon itself isn't exactly weak either. The easiest kill will probably be the Sorcerer's or the Pyromancer's. The Pyromancer has the damage advantage here while the Sorcerer has a greater range. Essentially those two classes allow you to stay at a reasonable distance and still do decent damage.

DarksignDark Souls III:
The Darksign is the sign of an accursed Undead.
The Darksign returns its bearer to the last bonfire rested at, or the bonfire at Firelink Shrine, but at the cost of all souls held.
Carriers of the Darksign are reborn after death, and eventually lose their minds, turn Hollow. And so it is they are driven from their homeland.

Dark Souls II:
An accursed mark. The Darksign induces death, returning the player to the last bonfire rested at, at the cost of all souls held.
Do what you must to gather the pieces, scraping them into some semblance of a whole, before the will to do so fades."

Dark Souls:
The Darksign signifies an accursed Undead. Those branded with it are reborn after death, but will one day lose their mind and go Hollow.
Death triggers the Darksign, which returns its bearer to the last bonfire rested at, but at the cost of all humanity and souls.

Estus Flask
Dark Souls III:
The Undead treasure these dull green flasks. Fill with Estus at bonfires, and drink to restore HP. The journey of an Undead has always traced the bonfires, and no journey of import has been made without an Estus Flask.

Dark Souls II:
A green glass bottle of unknown make. Fill it with Estus at a bonfire, and drink from it to restore HP.
The nature of the link between the Estus flasks and the bonfires that illuminate the world of the Undead is entirely unknown.
But that is of little concern, for any Undead knows the value of these precious flasks.

Dark Souls:
The Undead treasure these dull green flasks. Fill with Estus at bonfire. Fills HP.
The Estus Flasks are linked to the Fire Keepers. The Dark Tales also make reference:
An emerald flask, from the Keeper's soul. She lives to protect the flame, And dies to protect it further

Coiled Sword
Sword missing from the shrine bonfire. Cannot be equipped as a weapon. Thrust into the shrine bonfire to restore its power and enable travel between bonfires.
This sword is only bequeathed to chosen ash, as judged by the Iudex, who awaits the arrival of ash as a scabbard.

Ember
No Unkindled can ever truly claim the embers that burn within a champion's bosom, which is precisely what makes their yearning for warmth so keen.
Gain the strength of flame and increased max HP until death.
With the strength of fire, the summoning signs of Unkindled become visible, and seekers of embers can be summoned to join in co-operating. But beware, the embers may also attract invaders. Note: The inventory sprite for the Ember has a similar shape to that of Humanity from the first Dark Souls.

Homeward Bone
Dark Souls III:
Bone fragment reduced to white ash. Return to the last bonfire used for resting, or to the shrine bonfire.
Bonfires are sustained by the bones of the Undead. In rare cases, their previous owner's strong urge to seek bonfires enchants their bones with a homeward instinct.

Dark Souls II:
A white-ashen bone. Return to last bonfire rested at.
Bonfires burn on the bones of Undead and this bone, belonging to one whose journey was cut short, has the power to travel to bonfires. As if it yearns to resume its futile quest

Dark Souls:
Bone fragment reduced to white ash.
Return to last bonfire used for resting.
Bonfires are fueled by the bones of the Undead. In rare cases, the strong urge of their previous owner's to seek bonfires enchants their bones with a homeward instinct.

Estus Shard
Dark Souls III:
A shard soaked in Estus.
Give to the blacksmith at the shrine to increase usages of the Estus Flask.
In the old days, it was rare to see an Estus Flask far from its owner, but this shard offers hope, however shattered.

Dark Souls II:
The shard of an Estus Flask. Shards are deeply soaked in Estus. Graft the shard to an Estus Flask to increase flask uses.
Over the ages, countless souls rested their bones as they drank from the original flask. And now this shard remains, serving as a vestige of their hopes and dreams.